Well, well. Look who’s back in the playoff picture.
Sure, the 5-6 Jets remain a long shot to secure a postseason berth, but their win over the Panthers on Sunday coupled with losses by every team they needed to lose, has left them with a renewed hope to make something yet out of this season.
Suddenly, after darkness had engulfed the Jets, who had lost six of their previous seven games entering Sunday, a slight ray of light has sneaked through the windows and into their sprawling Florham Park, N.J., locker room.
“It’s a big opportunity for us,” cornerback Darrelle Revis said. “We know what’s at stake. We’ve got to continue to focus in on these games and get these wins and at end of the season see what’s unfolded for us to be in a wildcard spot.”
The Jets, who play the 4-7 Bills Thursday night in Toronto, find themselves a mere one game out of the second wild-card spot with five weeks remaining in the regular season.
Here’s how things broke right for the Jets on Sunday:
* Miami’s loss to the Bills left the Dolphins at 5-6.
* Jacksonville’s loss to the 49ers left the Jaguars at 6-5.
* Houston’s loss to the Colts left the Texans at 5-6.
* And Pittsburgh’s loss to Baltimore left both the Steelers and Ravens 6-5.
The Jets trail the 7-4 Broncos, who own the first wild-card spot by two games and they trail the Ravens (who have the second wild-card spot), Jaguars and Steelers by a game. That’s a lot of teams to leapfrog, but as the lottery advertises, hey, you never know.
The NFL tiebreaker system is rather complicated. If it came down to it, however, the Jets would lose head-to-head tiebreakers with the Dolphins and Jaguars, but would own the edge with the Texans and Titans, who are also 5-6.
The Jets’ remaining schedule includes three consecutive games against very beatable opponents — the Bills (4-7) in Toronto, the Buccaneers (1-9) in Tampa Bay and the Falcons (6-5) at home.
The Jets close with games against the Colts (10-0) in Indianapolis and the Bengals (8-3) at home.
It’s possible that neither the Colts (who already have clinched their division) nor the Bengals (who nearly have), likely having already slotted in with home playoff seeding, might not need to win those games against the Jets.
Now that we’ve explained the fantasy part of this equation, let’s address the more sobering reality: Before their spotty 17-6 win over the Panthers on Sunday, the Jets had won only one game since Sept. 27, that coming against the woeful Raiders (3-8).
This is why you heard no chirping about playoffs from Jets players in the locker room yesterday despite the favorable way things broke for them Sunday.
“We know what our future can be if we continue to win,” cornerback Lito Sheppard said. “We’re not jumping the gun, because we’ve already dug ourselves a big enough hole. But we’re not buried.”
The Jets veterans spoke in warning tones about players not getting ahead of themselves by thinking about anything beyond Thursday night in Toronto.
“You really can’t get caught up in a lot of that,” fullback Tony Richardson said. “Sometimes you can take a step out and see what’s going on, but the bottom line is if we don’t win and keep winning none of that stuff matters. I keep hearing all that stuff about [playoff] scenarios, but the only scenario we have control over is just trying to get a win.”
Right tackle Damien Woody agreed.
“I’m not even looking at the big picture,” Woody said. “I’m taking it one game at a time, with all the focus on Buffalo and after Buffalo the next opponent and then after the season let’s see where we stack up.
“When you look ahead it’s taking away from your focus, which should be on your opponent that you’re playing that week. Everybody’s approach should be on the Bills — especially with the short week we have this week. Let’s get the job done this week and keep moving forward from there.”